Elon Musk and State Department officials must sit for depositions over their role in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
- The big picture: The order is a win for the anonymous USAID employees suing over what they say was an unlawful effort by officials of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to gut the world's largest humanitarian aid organization.
- U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang wrote that there was "no alternative" to the depositions, citing plaintiffs' inability to obtain information through documents or lower-ranking officials, whose deposition requests went unanswered.
- Chuang also pointed to earlier rulings finding that Musk made decisions to dismantle USAID despite lacking formal authority or official approval.
Zoom in: USAID's former workforce of 10,000 managed some $43 billion in appropriations and assisted approximately 130 countries with disaster relief and economic development in fiscal year 2023.
- The agency's programs prevented an estimated 91 million deaths over the past two decades, including 30 million children, according to a July study.
- Unraveling USAID's could contribute to more than 14 million deaths by 2030, roughly a third of which would be children under 5 years old, the study found.
What they're saying: The White House referred Axios' comment to the State Department.
- Representatives for Musk, the State Department and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Axios' Wednesday evening request for comment.
- Musk previously said that the administration's cost-cutting department was only "somewhat successful," adding that he wouldn't take on the project again.
Go deeper: Elon Musk calls DOGE "somewhat successful." Here's what it accomplished
